This chapter examines the relationship between culture, identity and political power in the context of child marriage regulation in northern Nigeria. The identity markers of ‘religion’ and ‘ethnicity’ support differing interpretations and applications of human rights in Nigeria. Girls’ experiences do not occupy center stage in national debates, instead their voices are lost within efforts to negotiate identity conflicts at various levels. These negotiations blur the actual consequences of child marriage and similar practices on girl-children. Girls are increasingly drawn into the cultural politics of the adult world; their identity is intricately intertwined with institutional politics, culture, religion and unequal relations of power. By displaying child marriage as a prolific site of historical, religious, and political struggle, the chapter draws attention to the shifting national and local politics of regulating this practice.